Jajpur: Police on Tuesday arrested a youth for allegedly raping an eight-year-old girl at Durgapur village in Kalinga Nagar police limits in the district.

When the news spread, many villagers, including women, dragged the accused, identified as Metai Jamuda, 29, out of his house, tied him to a tree on the village road and beat him.

Later, the police were informed about the incident, and the villagers handed Jamuda over to the cops.

According to the complaint filed by the survivor's father with Kalinga Nagar police, his daughter was alone in their house as her parents went to the market to purchase some household articles on Saturday evening.

Finding her alone in the house, Jamuda took the minor girl to the nearby forest on the pretext of giving her berries.

The accused raped the girl there and later threatened her with dire consequence if she disclosed the incident to anyone. He then brought the victim to her house.

The girl narrated her ordeal to her parents when they returned home.

The parents then informed their neighbours about the incident.

Agitated over the crime, hundreds of local villagers thrashed Jamuda on Monday night.

"Acting on the tip-off, we reached the spot and brought the accused to the police station on the same night," said Kalinga Nagar police station inspector-in-charge Rajendra Narayan Patnaik.

The police registered a case in this connection and started investigation into the incident on the basis of the complaint filed by the girl's parents.

The cops conducted medical examination on both the girl and Jamuda.

The accused was produced in local court on Tuesday and later remanded to judicial custody after his bail plea was rejected, the police said.